Petroleum-distilling apparatus.



s. BORN.

PETROLEUM DISTILLING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED JAN-25.1917- Patented July 24:, 1917.

mmmo in the still.

SIDNEY BURN, 01E BARTLESVILLE, OKLOIIA.

PETROLEUM-DISTILLING APPATUS.

tpecification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 2d, IQIK.

Application filed January 25, 1917. Serial No. 144,427.

To all whom it may concern."

Be it known that I, SIDNEY Bonn, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the city of Bartlesville, inthe county of Washington and State of Oklahoma, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Petroleum-Distilling Apparatus, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to an improvement.

in the still of petroleum distilling apparatus, which I have devised more immediately for the apparatus employed in practising the process of distilling mineral oils and like products, set forth in United States Letters Patent No. 419,931, granted January 21, 1890, to James Dewar and Boverton Redwood. 7

In commercially practising the aforesaid and similar processes on a large scale, wherein the capacity of the still and the quantity of the material treated therein is several hundred barrels, it is found that the accumulation of carbon on the still bottom precludes continuing the run long enough to convert into lighter hydrocarbons more than about one-fourth of the material contained This is because the carbon formed in the process is a good non-conductor and the still bottom under it becomes red hot and, if the run were continued, would soon burn through the bottom of the still as well as retard the distillation itself.

The primary object of my invention is to prolong the run to anentent that will enable say one-half, more or less, of the still contents to be converted into lighter hydrocarbons without incurring the objectionable results above referred to, and this I accomplish by the means illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which Figure 1 is a longitudinal section through a still provided with my improvement; and

Fig. 2 is a transverse section of the same on line 2-2 in Fig. 1. The same reference numbers are used to designate the same parts in both figures.

The still 3 is provided with the usual appurtenances of a still, such as a burner 4' for heating, a flue 5, a safety valve 6, a vapor outlet 7, a pressure gage 8, a valved inlet pipe 9 for filling, a manhole 1O closed by a cover 11, a thermometer 12, and a drain cook 13. There is provided a chain 14, or series of chains, lying alon the bottom and along the curved sides 0" the still and covering approximately one-fourth of the total circumference. The chain may be either one continuous chain, looped at the ends in any suitable manner and the ends suspended free from the bottom by means of suitable books 15 to enable the chain to be more easily removed, or it may be a number of individual chains fastened in any suitable manner.

In the operation of the still the liquid hydrocarbon contents are heated to their boiling point by the heat from the furnace and circulate freely about and around the length of chain. The carbon which is produced by the breaking up or cracking of the charge under the action of the heat, instead of depositing on the still bottom proper and causing the objectionable circumstances referred to above, forms, for the greater part, on the chains lying on the bottom of the still. After the run has been completed, or whenever the accumulation of carbon renders it necessary, the still is opened, the ends of the chain are removed from the hooks and the chain is pulled out of the still. In this way, most of the carbon adhering to the chain is removed with the chain, and the small amount adhering to the still bottom has been so broken up by pulling out the chain that it can very readily be removed.

I realize that considerable variation is possible in the details of construction of the still and chains which I have specifically shown and described, and I do not intend by illustrating a sin le specific or preferred embodiment of my lnvention to be limited thereto except as required by the limitations imposed in the following claim, it being my intention to claim protection upon all the novelty there may be in my invention as broadly as the state of the art will permit.

I herein claim as my invention:

In an apparatus of the character described the combination with a still of parallel lengths of chain lying upon and extending along the still bottom from end to end of the still to cover substantially its entire bottom,

said still having an opening near its bottom through which said chain may be inserted and removed.

Signed at Bartlesville, Uklahoma, this 20th day of January, 1917.

SIHNEY BQRN. 

